Cracking Shower Floor

[rocco52]

My AS is just out of warranty. I have noticed some small cracks developing in the middle of the shower floor on my 25 FB. I have done some basic gel coat repair on boat scratches but never had to deal with cracks. I assume that the fiberglass is coated with Gel coat just like a boat hull? Any ideas from you pros out there?

[cwf]

Question #1 why is it cracking???
Q2... pics?

[rocco52]

I am not sure why it is cracking. I will get a picture when I get home tonight.

[tevake]

Does your floor flex when you step on it?
We were just kicking around the idea over on the Moho thread, of blowing non expanding foam under the floor to support it and keep it from flexing and cracking.

If what you are seeing is just in the gel coat. It may be possible to fill them with the same color of geicoat and sand to a nearly invisible new finish.

But the flexing must be stopped if it's to stay fixed.

Good luck with your repairs.

Cheers Richard

[rocco52]

Here is photo of the cracks. I added my finger for a size reference.

[rocco52]

Here is the photo

[cwf]

Stress crack.. ouch.. does floor of shower pan flex when you stand in it? I am at 270 and I can't feel any movement on the shower pan.

[rocco52]

I can feel no movement. My best guess is that something heavy was possibly dropped on it like a large bottle of shampoo or something. I have done a little gelcoat repair before but on boat hulls not something that you stand on. Should the cracks be slightly "V'ed" out with a Dremel tool before applying the repair material? Or should I sand out a large section of the gelcoat and replace a larger area?

[Caffeinated]

Call Jackson Center, send them the pics, and ask what to do. You are assuming it's fiberglass under the white coating. Maybe it is. Maybe it's not. Jackson center at the least could point you to the manufacturer and a possible solution.

Mike

[Wingeezer]

Our trailer had a short vertical crack (maybe three inches long) in the shower wall just above the seat and in the corner when we bought the trailer about 3 years old - didn't notice t until a few weeks later!

I debated what to do about it.

In the end, I thought that if I tried to make it disappear, it might wind up looking worse than if I left it alone!

So I just stop-drilled the crack at the end and then filled the stop-drill hole with clear sealant
and ran a bead of the same sealant along the crack.

Eight years later it looks just the same - has not progressed any further,

Just in case you are not familiar with stop drilling, it is a common practice to stop existing cracks progressing further - you just drill a very small hole at the extreme tip of the progressing end of the crack. That relieves the stress and usually works to stop the crack going further.

If doing that, you really need to identify the very tip of the crack - I often use a very bright light and a magnifying glass!

If you don't drill the hole right at its very end, then the crack stands a good chance of going further.

If you do wind up veeing out cracks in the floor pan and trying to bond them, then it might look best after to repaint the entire shower pan with a suitable paint - I think that is what i would do,

[rocco52]

Thanks for the tips. I appreciate it.